Fire & Water & Earth & Air

13: Water

Edward

           "Juliette!"

           She doesn't turn around. In fact, I don't think she hears me. So I try calling her name again. This time, the slight hesitance of her step shows she heard me.

           But it's only a hesitation, and it doesn't keep her from making her way to the building's main doors.

           I begin running towards her, not sure what I'll say when I catch up to her. Except I never reach Juliette.

           Instead, I'm intercepted by Mindy and Katerina, the most superficial females on this side of the planet. "Hi, Eddie," Kate purrs. I give her a thin smile and try to find my way around her.

           "You in a rush, Eddie?" Mindy questions.

           "Yes," I say. "There's unfinished business I need to attend to."

           They both throw their head backs with laughter. "So formal," they say in unison, like sirens trying to lure in a sailor. Again, I try to step to the side, but they step in my way. "We saw that girl," Mindy starts with a jeer. I know she's referring to Juliette but I let her continue. "Oh, yes, the one in your class. She was staring at you. She looked angry when we walked in. I think she has a thing for you," Katerina finshes.

           My eyes widen. "You think?"

           They both nod. "But you don't like her, do you?" Mindy nags.

           I shrug and they look stricken. "You can't like her!" Mindy screeches. I raise an eyebrow. "Why not?"

           They search for the proper words before Katerina cries, "You don't even know her!" This is true. And while I don't like like Juliette, I know I am attracted to her. I find her interesting. Intriguing, even.

           But I certainly don't like her.

           I shrug again. And then walk past them, ignoring their shocked scoffs.

           I reach the main doors and look around, wishing I could see an auburn mess among the sea of perfectly pampered reds, blacks, blonds, and browns. I don't see her, though. I sigh and walk to my car, fish my keys from my pocket, get in my car.

           As I'm speeding away from the parking lot, I give my left side a glance to see an angry red car stop at a streetlight. I pull up next to it and check to see who is driving.

           And I was right. Sitting in the driver's side, singing along to a song I can't hear, is Juliette. Next to her is Ruby, and in the back, Emily is sitting. I turn my eyes back to Juliette. Before the light turns green, Ruby catches me staring and smiles. I quickly turn away and watch the red light, waiting for it to change color.

           When it finally does, I floor it.

           I get home and shower right away. Again, the water feels like heaven up against my skin. It's refreshing, recharging, renewing. Like listening to the most soothing voice sing the most soothing song.

           I'm sitting in my room, on my phone, when I hear a knock at the door. Scrambling to get open it, I stand up and walk to the door. My mother stands on the other side, a smile on her face.

           "Hi, honey. I didn't hear you come in. How was school?" I tell her it was great. She doesn't look convinced. Then she brings up the dead body found in the courtyard.

           "Oh yeah.... about that...."

           "The man on the news said the victim was burned. Is that true?" My silence is her answer. "It was that girl, wasn't it? Janice, Jamie, June? Something like that. The one you brought home? What was her name? We need to turn her in, Ed."

           My eyes widen. "Mom, we can't do that! We aren't even sure it was her to begin with. What-what if we turn in the wrong person?"

           Mom doesn't look fazed. She looks lost in thought, like she didn't hear a word I said. She begins mumbling to herself and nodding, her eyes on the ground. When her eyes look back at me, I'm a little frightened by what I see.

           Determination is something no one can take from my mother. And once she is determined, no one can stop her.

           Without a word, she spins around and walks away.

           Juliette is doomed. She'll be exposed, arrested, questioned, and sentenced. Even if they find her innocent, humans are fragile creatures afraid of what is foreign, so she'll be punished anyway. I race after my mother, to tell her to stop, to convince her that it wasn't Juliette.

           But then I stop running. I realise that I'm not sure that it wasn't Juliette. Her innocence was never proved to me, and for all I know, she could be guilty.

           They're bad thoughts, but it was a bad thing that happened. So I watch in silence as my mother grabs her keys and leaves the house. She is undoubtedly going to go to the city's police department with her suspicions.

           Before the door closes behind her, I think about my decision and yell, "Mom!" She stops and turns around. "Yes?"

           "Just remember: innocent until proven guilty. Please."

           She nods and then leaves.

           I take in a deep breath, still in shock. Everything happened too quickly and, suddenly, the walls of the house are too small for me. With a shaking hand, I open the door my mother just walked through and decide to take a trip to the woods.

           After arriving, I walk to the clearing where I know I'll find water. It gets kind of awkward, though, because a guy and his girl are already sitting there, by a tree, his arm around her. They're quiet, looking foward towards the water.

          I take a step back, hoping they won't notice me. Unfortunately, my foot gets caught on a root and I fall backwards. "Oomf!" I go. They turn their heads, and come apart.

           Smooth, James.

           I hold up my hands to show I meant no harm. "Sorry," I say. "I was just leaving." The girl, I now realise, is in my last period. The boy I've never seen around.

           The girl stands up, much to his dissapointment. He hides the emotion quickly though, and replaces it with a smile. "Actually, Robert, I think I should leave now. This has been fun, yeah?"

           The boy- Robert -stands up and dusts off his pants. "Let me walk you home."

           The girl thinks about it then says, "I'll be okay. Pinky promise."

           He smiles at her and locks his pinky with her's. "Pinky promise." She walks away, smiling, eyes on the ground. I turn to Robert and raise an eyebrow. He looks enamoured as he watched her walk away. I turn to watch the girl, too. When she's out of sight, I turn back to him.

           "Sorry for interrupting. Didn't think your girlfriend would leave."

           His head snaps towards me. "She's not my girlfriend," he spits out a lot faster than I know he meant to.

           I put a hand on his shoulder. "Why don't you keep telling yourself that as she finds some other guy, dates him, falls in love, gets married, has children, while you sit in the back pews, and wonder where it all went wrong?"

           His eyes widen, like the thought scares him. But then they turn to slits. "That's a bit dramatic."

           "Is it, really?"

           Then I walk closer to the water, to leave Robert alone with his thoughts as I try to tame mine.

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